Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Sweet Nothings

Okay so as my cravings have intensified, I have found that my biggest weakness is baked sweets! These are some sweet recipes that are WAAAAAAAY more healthy than processed cupcakes/cookies/etc.  More healthy = less guilt!


Moist DELISH Banana Bread:


½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
½ cup) packed light brown sugar
¾ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ cups  mashed ripe banana (3-4 medium to large bananas...these should be waaay super ripe, like speckled and black)
¼ cup (3 ounces) honey (I use local honey instead of sugar a lot now, there are TONS of places to get good Missouri honey, and its full of antioxidants and immuno-boosters! woo!)
2 large eggs
2 cups (8 ounces) whole wheat flour- a bazillion times better than plain white all-purpose
½ cups chopped walnuts
Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Lightly grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan.
-Beat together the butter, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla in a medium bowl until smooth. 
-Add the banana, honey and eggs, beating until smooth.
-Add the flour and nuts, stirring until smooth.
-Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and let it rest at room temperature, uncovered for 10 minutes. (not sure why it has to rest, but it turned out amazing!)
-Bake the bread for 40 minutes. 
-Lay a piece of foil gently across the top and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 10 to 15 minutes more. 
-Remove the bread from the oven and allow it to cool for 10 minutes before turning it out of the pan onto a rack to cool completely.

Super-Fantastic Breakfast Bars
I made this to use up leftover cereal that I got bored of eating with milk (yes I get bored with cereal and milk).  You can use Cheerio's, Golden Grahams, Chex, etc.
1 cup local Honey                                                                                                                                    
1 cup sugar                                                                                                                                                
1 ¼ cups creamy peanut butter                                                                                                                 
5 cups Cheerios cereal                                                                                                                              
1 half bag dark chocolate chips (yeah chocolate! dark chocolate is surprisingly good for you!)
heat sugar and honey in a saucepan until the sugar has dissolved (right around boiling - make sure not to scorch it!), add peanut butter, then stir in cheerios, and spoon into a greased pan (I line mine with foil to make clean-up non-existent)
Melt the chocolate chips - I just put them in the microwave with a tablespoon of butter and about 3 tablespoons of milk for 20 seconds at a time until its creamy, then spoon it over the breakfast bars - DONE!
No baking, no crazy fat content (the sugar isnt so great, but cereal is good for you, right?), plus, its a quick chocolatey snack instead of eating cookies. yay!
As soon as I get a good camera, I'll be taking pictures of all my creations.  Enjoy! :)

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